Calgary Dinos coach cautions against overconfidence

It’s not that Wayne Harris Jr. isn’t aware of the weekly national university football rankings, it’s just that he doesn’t care about them.

That’s not to say the Calgary Dinos head coach doesn’t see the value in the rankings, he does.

Harris just can’t be bothered to worry about whether his team is ranked first, third, or 391st.

With the Dinos hosting the Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday (4 p.m., McMahon Stadium), he has other things on his mind.

“I really don’t pay attention,” Harris said. “I think it’s great for fans to talk about, but I haven’t looked at it in, well, I don’t know the last time.”

For what it’s worth, the Dinos are currently ranked No. 3 in the country, behind only the Quebecois powerhouses from Laval and the Universite de Montreal.

More importantly, though, the Dinos are sitting at the top of the Canada West conference standings with a perfect 3-0 record.

With the Huskies, Regina Rams and UBC Thunderbirds all sitting on 2-1 records, though, their lead is by no means safe, and that means there’s no time for self-congratulatory pats on the back about their national ranking.

“I hope they’re a confident group, we always want to be confident in what we do,” Harris said. “But you don’t want to be overconfident. We keep talking about those things and understanding that our conference is a tough conference to be in and we don’t want to take anything for granted.”

The Dinos have stormed out of the gate this season after losing in the Vanier Cup final last year. Quarterback Adam SInagra has been a revelation and is leading the conference in both yards per game (347.7) and touchdowns (10), while the receiving tandem of Michael Klukas and Hunter Karl are terrorizing opposing secondaries.

The offence is averaging an astonishing 59 points per game, while the defence has allowed the least points of any team in Canada West.

All of that is an awful lot more impressive than being ranked No. 3 in the country.

“The offence has been playing very, very well,” Harris said. “Adam’s been able to distribute the ball around a lot, we’re getting great time from the o-line and they’re also creating big holes for the running backs, who have been running tough.

“When you’re able to execute both the running and passing games, it makes you a lot more effective.”

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